


If We Were Alive

by Senkaitae



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M, hipster Steve, natasha is mean in this leave me alone, punk james
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-18 13:32:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2350160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senkaitae/pseuds/Senkaitae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James and Steve had a rocky friendship. And Nasha, what Steve would call Natasha, didn't help any. James and Natasha were always out smoking and ignoring the environment, and Steve hated it. He finally started putting his views in and was surprised at the outcome. But he wasn't expecting it all to happen in one day..</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1732061) by [MonstrousRegiment](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonstrousRegiment/pseuds/MonstrousRegiment). 



> Okay, for starters, I made this in my comp class so I had to change the names up a little bit. It's hipster au based off of a wonderful piece I read, which I have been digging around trying to find but am failing... Anyway, excuse grammatical errors and just anything that doesn't seem right. It's not done and I have a bad author block so... enjoy

           I was wheezing and, at times, gasping for air.  My lungs were making an audible sound as if they were scratching my ribs as I exhaled, and, when I inhaled, it felt like paper being crumpled up over and over.  I was home alone, like always.  I was slumped over in my couch with a thick and awfully large blanket over most of my body except my chest.  I knew I was sick again.  I was always told it was simply allergies, and that I shouldn't worry, but what would they know?  Are they Steven Always-so-very-sick Garret?  No!  So they were ignored.  What more would they know of my body than the man who claims to be a Doctor, but doesn't know what is wrong with my lungs?

            I sighed.  Thinking like this was only getting me frustrated, and I knew it would be bad in this situation.  I tipped my head back and shut my eyes, attempting to relax.  Almost immediately I could clearly hear the car horns and the people yelling back and forth down below.  “Ah, New York.”  I mumbled. It was my least favorite place on Earth. But, it is where my only hope lives. Though he can be a bit demented, and can forget I have feelings, he always ends up being there for me.  As I thought of him I heard a voice like his yelp out.

            At first I sat there and thought it was only because I was thinking of him, so it was like a dream.  But when I heard it again, this time clearly being a shout of my name, I sat up and turned to the window.  The couch was on the edge of the window sill so I was easily able to look down and see him down there.  With his stupid long hair that always looks so greasy, and his face full of scruff, like he was attempting to grow a beard.  It didn’t suit him.  I preferred all the hair coming from his scalp over facial hair any day.

            With a groan I realized he was walking into the apartment complex and most likely planning to come and chat.  He would at times have a thick smell of cigarette smoke on him, and it would bother my asthma.  But lately, it seems he’s been trying to quit.  The smoke didn’t get to me as bad as it once did, and that was a relief. When there was a knock at the door I realized my grin and nearly punched myself for it.  Instead, I shook my head and cleared my throat.

            “Come on in, James.”  I managed to croak out.  As he opened the door he looked at me with some facial expression that read concern, and sorrow.  “You sound terrible.” He let out with a chuckle.  “I’ve heard.” I started coughing merely from speaking.  It angered me.  In James’ mind coming over to me and slapping my back totally helps me from coughing.  Well, in every non-asthmatic’s mind really.  He was over at my side in no time, patting my back and telling me to breathe.  Wow, that helps me so much every time.

            When I finally stopped coughing I fell back and continued to be as lazy as I always was.  James glared at me like it’s something he hasn’t seen me do.  When I looked at him with the most easily read facial expression of ‘What?’ he looked away and shook his head.  I shrugged my shoulders, and attempted to clear my throat then.  “What are you doing here anyway?”  I didn’t really mean to sound so negative.  He quickly looked back at me as if I asked him to shoot me.  With a groan I covered my face with my hands, then lowered them and shook my head.

            “I didn’t mean it that way, you idiot.” I said, giving him a stern stare. “I’m only curious because you’re usually tailing Nasha’s shadow by now.” His eyes were now shot open, wide too. Nasha was only her nickname, but I hated using her full name.  Then again, I hated her in general.  James and Nasha would always talk and exclude me from their conversations, just because I don’t do the things they do, and I’m a ‘tree hugger.’  That’s what Nasha would call me, every time she saw me. “Hey tree hugger!”  Ugh.  Easiest way to make Steve furious within 2.3 seconds? Remind him he’s the only human here that loves being able to breathe.

            Either way, they acted like they were a couple.  Though I knew they weren’t, I would always call them Miss and Mister Punk.  It was mostly only to make them as mad at me, as I was at them.  Eventually, James finally found his voice again.  “Look, I don’t even hang with her anymore.  I’m tired of her.  She doesn’t understand your situation yet she talks about you like that all the time.”  I was shocked.  When did James become so considerate of others?  What alien life form came here to poses him and make him like this, and why? 

            “Well, okay.”  I shrugged. I believed him, but I didn’t.  I didn’t really know what I thought of it. I had always been the tree hugging third wheel with them and that was that.  They would be smoking as we walked in the park, throwing the butts either in the river or just on the side.  Their Ricker pop cups being cast aside as well.  Sometimes I’d pick them up, not caring what Nasha would say.  It just didn’t hit me as harmful, as hard as liter did. But, it would still frustrate me enough to hate her.

            He scratched at his head and sighed.  “I didn’t come here to argue, Steve.  I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the park with me.  No Nasha, just us walking around, and me not being a jerk and littering.”  I felt myself grin from ear to ear.  No matter how amazing that sounded, my lungs refused to cooperate.  I started coughing hard again, and I groaned through half of it. “I actually think going outside could help you, a bit.”  I wanted to think he was right but I knew that the air out there was far worse than his lone smell of smoke.  I’d rather be suffocated in his scent, then go out there and be covered in the thick fog of pollution.

            Wait, okay, that may have sounded weird but I totally didn’t mean it that way. Well, I meant it, just not- Okay, never mind.  I shook my head trying to mix up the thoughts a little.  I was thinking that I might as well try, seeing as how there weren’t too many people out like always.  James looked out the window by my side and pointed to the park as I thought.  “Also, town’s pretty empty at the moment.  We could get Frappes before we go, and enjoy them while we walk.”  He had that silly grin on his face that just made him look younger than me.  Like a teenager with a dream they know is a little bit, well, exaggerated.  It made me laugh, but, I nodded my head.  “Sure, James. I’ll go.”

            He immediately jumped up and had aglow all around him. “Yes! Okay, you go get all, uh, not sick as death looking and I’ll go use the bathroom. I have to take a wicked wiz man.” I stuck out my tongue.  “Bluh, man. T.M.I!”  He smiled and clicked at me as if he was annoyed, but I knew he was only playing. I smiled back and pushed the blanket off of me, slowly sitting up.  When I looked up I saw he was already in the bathroom.  “You seriously had to hold it in that long?” I mumbled under my breath. I moved my legs to the ground and slowly pushed myself up, something I haven’t done unless I had to eat or use the bathroom.  Which was rare, I had a high tolerance for both of the problems.

            My arms instinctively rose up to stretch like they were reaching out for stars and my lungs let out as much air as they could.  I actually felt awake again.  At the time my arms collapsed into my sides my feet began to explore. Not to slow, but not too fast.   I was leisurely making my way to my small room. I never really used it, unless I actually wanted to sleep in my bed.  Which was almost never, considering my sofa is the softest thing on the planet, and it’s blue.  Note, blue is the best color in the universe.  Galaxy is of course the best pattern.  But, there weren’t any galaxy covered furniture items when I actually had money.  Now they’re this huge thing like weed in the seventies.

            I didn’t care, though.  Either way, my room was where I stored my apparently large wardrobe.  That was the only reason it was ever used.  Otherwise, I’d just have a living room, bathroom, and kitchen apartment.  When I opened the door it felt like I was walking into Narnia.  Piles upon piles of books and folders of just miscellaneous things just cluttered the walls.  It was so hot in the room I was surprised none of it had burned away.  But I don’t think it would work that way.  With an exhale I took a further step and dodged my way around the piles, attempting to get to the wardrobe.  I managed to not knock any over, somehow, but I did nearly tip one and I had to grab it and hold it in place until it stood still. 

            The wardrobe was in front of me now, though.  Its ebony wood standing out from the white walled room, and its engravings screaming out, “I was really expensive.”  I opened the large doors which handles were carved into snakes and painted silver with green eyes.  It always reminded me of Loki somehow, the Norse God of Mischief.  It’s so dark, mysterious, and so intimidating to people. So intimidating that many people didn’t want to buy it, and the sellers were planning to burn it away to ashes and dust.  It killed me to hear such things and I just had to buy it.  They asked me why I was buying when it looked so different, and when I answered they were shocked.

            “It’s an outcast, just like me.  It may be different than the rest, but who said there was anything wrong with that? The loneliest people are sometimes the brightest, and in this case, the loneliest wardrobe is the most unique and majestic.”  I said it aloud to myself, almost saying it to the wardrobe, to remind it of the day it was bought.  I always felt that after I bought it, I opened up more.  As if I opened the wardrobe to myself.  I hummed in its presence and opened the doors finally. The clothes inside were perfectly hung and I could pick from thirty different shirts and pants.  But instead, I decided to just pick a random one out, that just so happened to be green and blue.

            The shirt was white with blue text that seemed to be embroidered on it, and the pants were blue with black thread patches to mimic the look of rips and tears. The text didn’t truly match the situation but the colors did.  “Wish upon a Dead Dream” is what it read.  I loved the saying, though I never knew why.  It was so pessimistic, but meaningful in some way.  I quickly threw off the gigantic shirt and put it in my dirty clothes basket, replacing it with the new one.  I did the same with the pants, just not as smoothly.  I ended up nearly falling a couple times and my balance almost never wanted to recover.

            But, I was dressed now, and I was heading out of the room.  James was already in the doorway waiting for me in the hall.  I had almost forgotten he was here.  I remembered I needed to get dressed and go to the park, but the thought of James just disappeared.  I felt a little bad knowing that, so I knew that I just had to go now.  “So are you ready now or what?”  He said it in a sort of low grog that made him seem like he was sick, or just unhappy.  “Yea, I’m ready Sir Smiles-A-Lot.”  He looked at me and grinned, then headed to the door.

            Of course now I was thinking about where we were actually going.  That polluted river just filled my mind. “James.”  “Yes, Steve?”  “I want you to help me.”  He looked at me as he placed his hand on the door knob.  “Oh, yeah? With what?”  I debated on even asking him, or telling him.  “I want you to help me clean up the river.  I know, I’m a tree hugger.  But seeing the lake like that not only hurts my imagination but it hurts my immune system too.”  He hit my shoulder, playful in his attempt, but it actually hurt.  “Sure, bud.  I’ll help you out.” 

            I felt like I smiled the entire time we walked down the stairs, and even to the park.  When we got there I noticed how right he was.  Barely anyone was out today, which is scary for this area.  It didn’t bother me though; I hated crowds and large amounts of people.  This just made it a hundred times easier.  I went straight to the river, and wasn’t surprised by the amount of things in it.  It made me upset just seeing it in that state and I felt like plunging in to dig the entire junk out.  But I knew if I did that, it would be a death wish.

            James walked up behind me with some long arm thing in his hand.  It had pinchers to where it could grab things from a far distance.  As I looked at him, and it, with confusion he reached out his arm.  “Here, it’s for you.”  I hesitantly took it, and then looked back at him again with confusion.  “You want to clean it up so bad and you’re so short I decided to bring it.”  I groaned. I hated how I was short, more-over, how he was tall, but I ignored all that and started using it to my advantage.  It worked out well, I was cleaning up the actual water and James was cleaning up what was the shore.

            “Yo, Steve!”  I stopped where I was and looked back at him with irritation.  “What?  I’m busy.” I yelled back. “Yea I see that!” he said, “But it’s like, 8 o’ clock man.”  I halted in shock.  “Wait, what? How?!”  I ran over to him and realized how dark it was.  I looked around at where we were and noticed nearly all of the riverbank was cleaned up.  “Well, we did do amazing though, right?”  He nodded, and nudged me to walk with him.  “Let’s go get the Frappes now.”  I smiled and nodded back at him, and walked with him, happy with what we had done.

            When we got to the McDonald’s, I could clearly smell the amazing coffee bar they had.  Unlike most McDonald’s, this one was far more interested in helping its customers stay awake.  We walked inside and I ordered my favorite, caramel Frappe.  James ordered a simple chocolate mocha.  It always shocked me how much he liked sweets. Being as edgy as he was I thought he’d like black coffee, but no, he hates it and all bitter things in general.  I always shrugged at his orders, and he would chuckle.

            After about five minutes, our names were called and our coffees were ready. We sat down at a booth, and I looked happily out the window towards the park.  James was smiling too, which was rare, and that made me far more happy. Soon after we finished the coffees, we started to leave.  But, before we could, I started to have atypical coughing fit.  At least, I thought it was typical.  My throat felt clenched, and my breath completely stopped. My lungs froze and my body locked up. Then, suddenly, James was leaning over me with fear on his face.  Then, black was all I saw.

            All I remember was his face, scared, horrified.  It was all I could picture, until I realized my eyes were slammed shut, and I didn’t know why.  I quickly threw them open and found myself in a pure white room, and a pure white bed. The air was thick and it was as if sound was off.  There were two IVs in my right arm and one in the left.  I had a mask on my face that was hooked up to some pump-like thing, and it made this sound that sounding like my lungs half the time.  It was horrid.

            My breath hitched then, and I started to cough, long and dry coughs.  It felt like agony boiled over in a cauldron. After I coughed, I heard stomping feet running towards me.  I looked up towards the door, and there was James.  He had that same expression of fear, and it made me feel terrible.  “Steve!  You’re finally awake.”  “Finally?” My voice sounded terrible.  It was like a robot being strangled under water. “You’ve been in a coma, Steve. You were gone for six months.”  I felt my eyes widen.  “What even happened?  I don’t remember anything.”

            He walked further in the room and sat by me, holding his hand on my arm. “Your lungs shut down completely. You ended up flat lining and they had to bring you back.”  I looked at him with even more shock now.  “I spent the time you gave me cleaning up what was left of the river. Well, for a month.”  “Why only a month?”  He paused and scratched his head.  “The pollution got worse than anyone ever thought it would get.  There was acid rain, Steve.  It killed all the trees and the oxygen supply was destroyed.”

            I couldn’t say anything; I just stared at him in shock.  Nothing came to mind but how I was even alive at all. “You somehow managed to be immune to everything.  You were immune to the virus that spread around for months.  You somehow evaded it, and you’re stronger than anyone else now.” He let out air as if he had been holding it in for years.  “The world out there doesn’t look the same as it did, at all.”  He stood up then and held out his hand.  “Give me your hand and I’ll walk you to the window so you can see.”  I did immediately, and what he walked me to alarmed me.

            There was absolutely no trace of trees, grass, or the blue lake.  It looked like Hiroshima after the bombing, and it seemed like something from an apocalypse video game.  But, here it was, not a video game.  “James, how did this happen?”  I hoped he knew the answer, I begged it.  “No one knows, Steve.  All they know is that the virus spread like wild fire, and it killed more than was imaginable.”  “Test me, I can imagine.”  He looked down at me and swallowed hard.  “Over a billion people died.”  I looked to him in fear.  “For us that didn’t catch the deadly track of it, we’ll survive, for as long as we can hope.” 

            After I stared out at what was left of the city, a nurse came into the room. She told me it was alright to leave now, and that I should be careful everywhere I go.  I listened to her, though I had no idea why she was so cautious. Maybe there was something worse out there than what I could see.  With a sigh, I went with James down to the lobby, then out of the hospital.  When the doors opened, I was flashed with a reality that was grey and monochrome.  Nothing was the same, nothing was what I remembered. 

            I could see the river, or what was the river, from here.  There was no water in the valley and what was once grass around it was now dry dirt.  There were no sounds of cars or people walking through the roads.  There was no restaurant packed with people.  It was as if we were in a ghost town.  “James, I don’t want this to be real.”  “How do you think it was like for me, having to see this all go down?”  I exhaled and shook my head.  I wouldn’t ever understand him, and I wasn’t going to attempt to today, not with all that was going on.

            Soon after, we were at my apartment.  It was dark and dusty, and it had the thick smell of sulfur covering it. I was surprised I hadn’t choked yet, considering a little smell of perfume would make my breathing hitch before. Even walking around and breathing all the gassy fumes outside didn't harm me.  I didn't understand any of it.  I sat at the sofa and decided to let everything sink in.  I needed to think about all that just happened, as well as what was going on with me.

            Finally, I got the bright idea to ask him.  “James, what all did they do to me?”  I didn’t know how else to ask him.  “They held you there and had all those IVs in you.  Other than that, I wouldn’t know.  You should be asking the nurse.”  I sighed.  Of course he wouldn’t tell me, even if he did know. But, we both knew something was up. I wasn’t being me. I wasn’t coughing up a lung every five seconds and, gods, did I sound strange. My voice was more drawn out, deep too. It was freaky, really freaky. 

After sitting there in silence for far too long I started feeling some movement in my veins. It felt like something was flowing, and no, it wasn’t blood. It felt solid, and so cold. When I looked down to the veins on my under arm, I jumped so far back I could have left my skin. “What’s wrong?” James asked, concerned and now standing over me. “My veins. They’re… purple, and I.. I-I can see them so clearly!” James stared at the mutation of crazy land in awe, mouth gaping and everything. 

I could see the veins so well, it was like high school classes that had those vein diagrams. I wanted to see where else they were visible, but, it seemed they stopped halfway up my arm. “Was this what the nurse was telling me to be careful about?” I asked as I glanced at James, pleading for more. “I-I suppose so.” He shook his head and closed his previously gaped mouth and sat down on the couch. I sat next to him, then, still staring at my veins. 

“If you stare at a clock, time goes slower.” James mumbled. “Huh?” I looked to him in wonder now. “So, if you stare at your veins like that, they won’t look any better.” I slowly nodded and exhaled. I slumped back, just like him, and stared into the distance. Complete quiet, once more. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you think everything is finally back in place and in order, chaos can go ballistic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire chapter is thanks to an idea my girlfriend gave me. It ended up working out well for the story..

I hadn’t realized it until I woke up, needing to use the restroom that James and I passed out in that moment of silence. He had his heavy body nearly half covering me, breath in my face. Ugh, I could still smell it as I sat up. I ended up waking him, hearing his low groggy voice mutter out, “Steeeve..” “What? What James?” I looked back at him and he only fumbled with the blanket, which was covering the couch, and laid back down. With a groan I stood up and ignored him, heading to the bathroom finally. But, I could swear I heard footsteps as I headed in.

                Damn, I was right. He gave himself away with the loudest, and longest, yawn in the world. “Dude, seriously?” He was standing right out the door, I’m assuming waiting his turn, and I wasn’t going to hurry. I blocked him out, and leisurely did my thing. When I walked out of the bathroom he was leaning by the door and groaning. “Gotta go?” I grinned as I asked, knowing the answer. “Yes, thank you.” He practically growled and ran in, slamming the door.

                Shaking my head, I decided I might as well change my clothes, seeing as how I smelt like five gyms put together thanks to him. I headed for my room, that closet, and this time, customizing my outfit. Black skinnies, my red and black plaid button-up polo, white shirt underneath. I looked in my mirror as I dressed, then suddenly I noticed something on my neck. A thick, purple line, from my ear to my collar bone, and it seemed to go through it.

                As I stared at it I heard James walk over. “What, staring at your freakiness again?” “Shut up.” I retorted. “Look, I don’t want to say I understand, because I’ve never had purple veins, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.” I sighed and nodded at his words. “I mean, the nurse wouldn’t have let you go if she didn’t think you needed to stay.” “That’s true. But I’m still freaked over her ‘be careful’, man.” I said hesitantly. He stared at me, with no emotion in his eyes, like he was thinking deeply. “James?” His eyes flashed and he shook his head.

                “Sorry man.” He grumbled out and rubbed his face. “I’m gonna head to my place and get dressed. Meet me at what’s left of the park?” I chuckled, “Sure.” He smiled and headed out the door then, like he was in a hurry. When I heard the door shut, I attempted to find my shoes, and slipped them on when I succeeded. After that, I headed straight to the ruins. “You look horrible.” I mumbled as I got closer. “Thanks man.” I turned back to James walking closer, laughing almost immediately. “Don’t you have perfect timing?”

                He grinned at me and patted my back when he got to my side. Then, suddenly, there was that distinct sound of fire. FWOOSH! We turned back slowly, and saw my apartment, being devoured in flames. “AW MAN!! What the hell?!” I threw my arms down and James whistled. “Wow. Blaze it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, it's a bit fluffy.

After we saw the fire catch, we watched a couple of people walk by and do absolutely nothing. The small amount of people, and the little amount that people cared for each other now, messed with me. My entire apartment, gone. My books, art, clothes. Man, everything. I exhaled, it was all eating me up, too fast. James could tell, his heavy arm leaning around me and keeping me close. He ended up getting a blanket for me from his house, so we could stay and watch a little longer. But watching it ate me up more. “James, could we go now?”

                He looked down at me, and nodded, exhaling and moving his arm. I leaned up when he stood, then he reached his hand out to me like I couldn’t stand. “Pfft, James, no. I’m fine.” I shook my head at his hand and stood on my own, and he glared at me. “What?” “That wasn’t the point.” I looked at him curiously. “What was the point then?” Still glaring at me, but with heavier lidded eyes. “Forget it. Anyway, you’re coming to my place, not that you didn’t already know that.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned again, making me laugh.

                We made our way to his house, which actually, I’ve never really been too. When I did, it would be for only a minute and only in his doorway. But now I was going to be staying there, oh God. I nearly stopped in my place thinking that. But, I shook it away and kept going. Eventually, we finally got to his house, which was all white and had dirt all around the bottom of it. Also had some vines crawling up it. He walked me to the door, which was large and white as well. With all the white on the outside, I just knew it would be dark inside.

                As soon as he opened the door, I grinned and let out, “I knew it!” “You knew what?” he asked, puzzled. “Hehe, nothing.” He shook his head and turned on the lights, and as he did I looked around. The walls were a dark wood paneling and the floor had dark red carpet. “Well. Guess you could kill someone and get away with it, huh?” He smirked, and chuckled. Score. I kept looking then, noticing the posters scattered around. Band posters, good ones too, except for the few I didn’t know of. But, I stopped and let my eyes devour the ACDC, Metallica, Alice Cooper, and Avenged Sevenfold posters.

                “You gonna quit peeling my posters with your eyes and come find something to eat?” I heard him ask, sounding annoyed, but playfully annoyed. “Yea, sure. What do you even have?” He shrugged and pointed to the fridge, which was black and silver plated, and seemed relatively new (Despite everything else in the house). I reached out for the handles and pulled it open, noticing a surprisingly large amount of food. There was at least 4 jars of pickles, 2 of Nacho cheese, and just a ton of lunch meat in the meat drawer.

                I looked over just a tad bit to find about 20 different things to just put on a sandwich. Mayo, mustard, ketchup, relish, and a ton of flavoring things for Asian foods. “Dude, did you at one time have like, 9 people here? This is too much food for even you.” “Yea, I used to have all my friends come over all the time, ‘member?” Oh. Oops. I felt a little bad asking, but I knew prying would just make it worse. So, I grabbed some honey ham (oh my gods) from the meat drawer, and some bread from the bread box.

                “There’s chips on the top of the fridge, hun.” I nodded and went to grab a bag, then froze. “Hun?” I looked back and saw him frozen too. “Uh, pretend I didn’t say that.” He immediately went towards the living room and I slowly continued what I was doing, the word still ringing in my mind. I made my simple sandwich and returned the bread to its box, and slowly walked to where James was. He didn’t take a single eye off of the T.V, which wasn’t even on.

                “James, what you said, uh, it’s okay. I’ll act like it didn’t even happen.” He jerked up when I finished speaking and immediately yelped, “No!” I hesitated then, and tilted my head at him. “I said it for a reason, Steve.” He let out a sigh, and I felt even more lost. “Mind explaining?” “I’m in love with you.” Whoa. I felt my entire body jolt in shock. Did he really just say that? No way. “And, I’ve been in love with you for as long as I’ve known you. I’ve just been afraid to admit it, because I was afraid of how you’d react.”

                He went back to staring again, but this time, at the floor and covering his face. It made me feel terrible, seeing him let his mind fill him up with false thoughts like this. “I love you too, James. I hadn’t realized it was love I felt for you until we started hanging out more. But then, I just couldn’t stand not being around you.” He perked up at the time I said that, and he smiled. “I quit for you.” He said, smiling right at me, making my face feel hot. I shook my head and let out a laugh. “I knew you had to be quitting for something special.”

                “Someone very special.” He was still smiling at me. God, that smile. It had that feeling about it that just made you want to smile with him, and be happy. I noticed his hand then, patting the couch cushion next to him, as if signaling me to ‘come hither’. I sighed, not an unhappy or distressed sigh, simply a sigh of relief, and sat by him. "You're not too distant from me now, are you, Steve?" I looked up at him. "What do you mean?" "I mean, how would you react to this?" Immediately after finishing his sentence he lifted my head by my chin and carelessly pressed his lips against my own. 


End file.
